Antibody quality is a significant problem. In order to help Labome visitors to identify the most suitable antibodies and other reagents, Labome surveys formal publications on specific genes (from 2006 onwards) to build Validated Antibody Database (VAD). VAD version 9.1, released on 2023-06-11, is adding 28301 antibody applications for 12154 antibody reagents from 89 high-quality suppliers, based on 1914 formal publications. In total, VAD includes 377245 antibody applications for antibody reagents from 222 high-quality suppliers, based on 56635 publications. Tables 1 - 6 list various stats about VAD. The database can be searched through the above search box. In addition, Labome presents individual reviews for specific genes. See beta-actin antibody review, p53 antibody review, and insulin antibody review for examples.

Labome focuses on the antibodies that have been validated through knockout studies. Reports for these antibodies are released regularly and can be searched throughout Labome website.

VAD data for polyclonal antibodies from publications over 5 years old are purged. Our curation is based on catalog numbers/clone names, not based on lot numbers. Very few articles indicate lot numbers for antibodies or other reagents. This purge is due to the problem with catalog number designation for polyclonal antibodies by antibody suppliers. Different suppliers use different standards for designating catalog numbers. Different catalog numbers may mean different preparations from the same bleed, or different bleeds from the same immunized animal, or different animals from the injection of the same immunizing antigen preparations, or antibodies against different genes (regardless of the host animals). In this sense, the polyclonal antibodies with more citations (meaning more purchases by the users) tend to run out sooner, and need to be re-made more frequently, and thus become less reproducible. Nevertheless, citations for a polyclonal antibody indicate that the supplier possesses the expertise to develop a suitable polyclonal antibody for that antigen, and thus is a vote of confidence for the supplier (albeit not a vote for the particular catalog number).

Therefore, 45610 records about 12066 polyclonal antibodies from 19404 articles were purged in January, 2020; 1295 records about polyclonal antibodies were retired in Dec 2018; 4629 records about polyclonal antibodies from 2861 articles were retired in August 2018; 14023 records from 3943 articles were retired on Oct 20, 2015.

Three sets of articles are manually curated to collect antibody application information for VAD. The articles must contain unique identifiable information such as catalog numbers or clone names for each antibody reagent. (A side note: Michael G Weller from Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Berlin, Germany suggests that all publications without identifiers for antibody reagents should be nullified [1] ). 1: One or more articles for each primary recombinant or monoclonal antibody reagent from antibody suppliers; 2: A selected group of articles using knockout mice, CRISPR/Cas9 cell lines, or other specific gene-deletion models; 3: Articles from Science and Nature, starting in 2016. Recombinant and monoclonal antibodies are given priorities in the selection of articles.

Manually curated antibody records from our earlier efforts (see below) on about 6674 articles are merged into VAD. Most of the records in this merged set do not contain catalog numbers or clone names, and hence displayed as "not indicated", as often in the case of a majority of publications. These records with missing catalog numbers/clone names are not included in the tabulation of Table 1.

A small set of records are contributed by antibody suppliers. This set is carefully screened to ensure that each article cites explicitly the antibody reagent either through a catalog number or a clone name, and contains complete information about antibody application and sample species.

PLOS Biology covers a broad range of biomedical research topics and has the highest impact factor among open-source biomedical journals. The new journal eLife is a joint effort supported by three of the world largest biomedical research funders, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max Planck Society, and the Wellcome Trust. It aims to publish the most influential discoveries in the life sciences and biomedical research.

Labome is systematically curating all articles from these two journals, and organizing the information on antibodies, other reagents, and instruments. This selection process is discontinued as of 2016.

The journal Science publishes the most significant advances in all disciplines of science, including biomedical sciences. Labome systematically curated information on antibodies, other reagents, and instruments cited in biomedical articles published in Science between late 2010 and 2012.

To ensure that the Labome review database covers the greatest possible number of genes, we selected open-access articles based on the genes these articles discuss. All primary antibodies cited in these articles have been curated. For a small percentage of the articles, we included information about other reagents (in addition to antibodies) and instruments. This selection process is discontinued.

Labome Database is free for individuals browsing via Labome websites, and the whole or a portion of the database is also available for purchase. Contact info at labome dot com if you are interested in obtaining a copy of VAD.

This articles is derived from an earlier version of a webpage titled "Labome Antibody and Reagent Reviews -- How Do We Select Our Articles?", presented at Labome since 2006.